"The Island" at some points compared to "Brave New World"

Rating: 8/10 (31 October 2006)

The film "The Island" is all about clones, who do not know they are clones. The people they are clones from, think the clones live like plants. They do not feel, nor can they think. The opposite is true. The clones are like normal human beings, except the fact that they know less. For example they have never seen a car and they do not know anything about sex. The clones think the world has been contaminated and that they are all survivors. Their reward is a lottery, in which clones are chosen to go to The Island: the only place left in the world that has not been contaminated. But in fact, there is no island and the clones are, after they have won the lottery, used for donating organs to their 'originals' in the real world. After that, they are killed The clones Lincoln Six Echo and Jordan Two Delta realize at some point in the film, that there is something not right. They escape from the clone-world and have to deal with several problems in the real world.
The film "The Island" has some similarities with the book "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley. In both works are people copied and the clones are taught in their sleep. This is called hypnopaedia. There are a few versions of the memory implants the clones are getting in the film, but they are all more or less the same. For example, everyone was living at a farm before the 'contamination' and everyone had a nice bike. As well in "Brave New World" as in "The Island" people are not supposed to have feelings. The difference is that in "The Island" the clones do have feelings, where the 'original' ones think they do not. Another similarity is that in both works regularity in the behavior of the clones is very important. When there is no regularity and order, the 'products' will be too developed and they will be curious about certain things, for example about the question why they keep finding new survivors. Human curiosity is unwanted in the clone-world, because it can lead to difficult questions and disobedience of the clones. This would be very dangerous because Merrick, the leader of the clone project, can not possibly let it happen that there is some outbreak of clones into the real world and that normal people, suddenly see their 'insurance policy' standing right in front of them. The last thing I want to say about the similarities, is that in both works it all is about a person who is different from the others. That one person starts to think and with that he gets a lot of trouble
Finally I want to say that I think "The Island" is a good film, although sometimes the story is a little predictable. For example at the end when the real person and his clone are fighting: you just immediately know that the 'police' are not going to be able to make a difference in who is who. Last but not least: imagine what would happen if this film represented the truth. Imagine that you would have your own insurance policy, walking around somewhere hidden below the ground and fully able to think and to feel..